Coloratura soprano Jane Hoffman is a true singing actor who brings an engaging stage presence and an expressive voice to repertoire that ranges from baroque to brand new.
As a passionate advocate for contemporary music, she is particularly in demand as a performer of new works; she recently premiered scenes from The Contract Player with OperaRox Productions, and she has premiered multiple works as a Core Company Resident with the Fresh Squeezed Opera Company.
In 2017, Jane debuted two new roles: Elizabeth 'Baby Doe' Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe with Utopia Opera, and Adele in Die Fledermaus with Amore Opera. She spent 2016 focusing on recital repertoire, performing on Long Island with the Red Door Chamber Players in a series of recitals which explored the music of Latin America and Spain. Earlier in 2016 she returned to Pasadena Opera to cover Mrs. Gleaton in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, conducted by Dana Sadava and directed by Sara Widzer.
In August of 2015, Jane was a member of the Emerald City Opera (recently renamed Opera Steamboat) Artist Institute, where she sang The Fire and The White Cat in The Child and The Spells by Ravel, conducted by Andres Cladera and directed by Keturah Grünblatt. As an Apprentice Artist, she also participated in a masterclass with acclaimed soprano Elizabeth Futral. Earlier in 2015, she appeared in the Fresh Squeezed Opera Company’s New York premiere of Baby Shower by Bruce Trinkley.
Other performance highlights include: performing compositions by Wang Jie and Nina C. Young in the Fresh Squeezed Opera Company’s 2014 New Art Songs & Arias Showcase, and opening the LaGuardia Performing Art Center’s 2012-2013 season singing arias by Mozart and Handel as part of the multimedia dance piece 7 [Seven]. Jane has performed roles such as Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Frasquita (Carmen) and Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann). In concert she has performed as a soloist in works such as Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbre and Bach’s cantatas BWV 140 “Wachet auf” and BWV 202 “Weichet nur.”
She received a Master of Music degree in Voice from the Manhattan School of Music, where she sang the role of Daniel in the New York premiere production of Handel’s Susanna conducted by Kenneth Cooper; she also co-wrote & performed in MSM’s outreach group Discover Opera, touring a forty minute musical to local schools. For her bachelors she attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she performed with the Sarah Lawrence Orchestra as a soloist in concert works such as Missa Brevis in C (Mozart) and Messe de Minuit (M.A. Charpentier) and appeared as Paquette in a concert version of Candide.
Jane grew up in Pasadena, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, where she first became interested in music as a child while studying piano and singing with the Los Angeles Children’s Choir. She currently lives in Harlem and is a student of David Jones.
© Jane Hoffman